My final entry for the yours truly 2006 Austrian adventure blog are some photos I took on a day trip to Vienna. Many of the sights on my stops tend to blur into one another, but one thing that stood out about the capital of Austria is it is a lot bigger than my other tourist destinations.

This means more beautiful architecture, plazas, statues, other points of interest, and of course people watching. I spent most of the day walking around, but I did go in the Freud museum located in the flat where he lived and practiced for 30 years before being forced to flee to England.

I'll be home on August 10th. Thanks for viewing. Auf Wiedersehen!

I'm in Linz attending the Transart Institute low residency Master of Fine Arts program in cooperation with the Danube University Krems. They've kept us very busy with fascinating workshops and seminars. Simultaneously I've been working on developing my art and research projects that I'll conduct at home this fall.

On one of two days off I took the opportunity to depart from the beaten path between the student housing and our facilities. In addition to shots of the beautiful old section of town, I took an old fashioned tram to some heights above the city and got some pictures of the surrounds.

This is not a tourist destination like Innsbruck and Salzburg, but Linz has some beautiful architecture and points of interest. There was a three day street festival like a carnival that was a lot of fun. For those of you with a high-speed connection and a bit of patience I've posted a video of some of the wild action. On my other day off I took a trip to Vienna. I'll edit and post some of those photos in a couple of days. Tschuss!

Salzburg is a beautiful city, and I'm sure half of Europe and a few Americans were there enjoying it with me. I guess living in Northern California and Southern Oregon for the last 17 years has spoiled me, and I'm just not used to crowds. I'd like to return to this city that boasts Mozart's birthplace sometime when it's off-season.

But enough whining. I enjoyed walking the streets of the Altstadt (old section of town), sipping coffee and tasting gelato, or drinking beer at the numerous sidewalk cafes. Northern European beers on tap simply haven't been duplicated in the U.S. Furthermore, they don't mind if you sit for hours, so it was an opportunity for people watching, and I caught up on my reading for the seminars I'll be taking.

I also got some great pictures. Be sure to check out my cyber postcards! Well, I just arrived in Linz, where I'll be spending the next three weeks taking classes. We get only two days off and one of them is on my birthday. I'll be thinking of you when I eat chocolate cake in Vienna!

It was prettier the further the train got from Munich, as it wound into the Alps. This is more of the magic I remember from Europe. The villages are all very clean and quaint, and the Alpine meadows have a wonderful fragrance. The views are spectacular.

Innsbruck has a beautiful old section of town. There are lots of outdoor seating cafes, no one is in a hurry, and everyone seems friendly. There is a beautiful river flowing through the valley and city, which is surrounded by towering alps.

I'll post more photos later! Next stop: Salzburg.

I arrived in Munich a day later than planned. Leave it to United to mess up travel plans with delayed flights! Gazing out the window of the train from Munich Airport while traveling to the main station in the center of town, I could tell Germany had changed since the last time I was here some 28 years ago. It is no longer so neat and tidy. There is graffiti everywhere, and a lot of the apartment blocks and other buildings look in poor condition.

My hotel was right near the station, so that was convenient. I took a walk around the downtown pedestrian zone and took the pictures shown above. This part of town is still pretty nice, and it seemed like about half of the people walking around were American tourists like myself.

I'd planned on staying two days in order to recuperate from jet lag, but the one day was really enough, so I headed to Innsbruck.